I've noticed that online, activism seems to be getting confused with a system of yelling in outrage for five minutes that's somewhat closer kin to throwing a tantrum (or trolling).
Actual activism (political/social etc) is harder work -- for every Greenpeace 'stunt' there's the back-up of fundraising, educational outreach, letter campaigns, boycotts... the whole 'raising awareness' thing that's topped off by carefully planned direct action.
The thing that actually changes people's attitudes isn't the stunt -- it's all the gruntwork stuff behind the stunt. The stunt is mostly to draw media attention to the issues, it's the gruntwork stuff changes the world. And the organisations who do too much screaming and finger-pointing... often just find themselves famous for screaming and finger-pointing and nothing else, even if they're right to be outraged.
How to change the market? Gruntwork, education, doing your bit, and all those quite things that aren't as much fun as witch-hunting or burning flags.
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timeasmymeasure
no subject
Date: 2007-08-30 09:03 pm (UTC)Actual activism (political/social etc) is harder work -- for every Greenpeace 'stunt' there's the back-up of fundraising, educational outreach, letter campaigns, boycotts... the whole 'raising awareness' thing that's topped off by carefully planned direct action.
The thing that actually changes people's attitudes isn't the stunt -- it's all the gruntwork stuff behind the stunt. The stunt is mostly to draw media attention to the issues, it's the gruntwork stuff changes the world. And the organisations who do too much screaming and finger-pointing... often just find themselves famous for screaming and finger-pointing and nothing else, even if they're right to be outraged.
How to change the market? Gruntwork, education, doing your bit, and all those quite things that aren't as much fun as witch-hunting or burning flags.